JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN. 




PH I I. a D r i. i' ii i \ : 
[PPINCOTT COMPANY 
188 



•loil.N CALDWELL CALHOUN. 



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P II I LA D i: I. r H I \ : 
[PPINCOTT COM PAN Y 
1888. 



Copyright, 1888, by .J. B. Lippin< ott Compakt 




JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN. 



Calhoun, John Caldwell, an American statesman, 
was born in Abbeville District (now county), South 
Carolina, March 18, 1782. He was of [rish Presbyterian 
descent. He graduated at Yale College in 1804 with 
honours, and became a successful lawyer. Entering con- 
gress as a representative from his native state in 1811, 
he at once took a prominent place before the country as 
a supporter of the measures which led to the war of I 812 
-15 with Great Britain. In 1816 he supported a bill 
for establishing a protective tariff, and reported to con- 
gress a measure for the creation of a national bank. In 
1817 he joined Monroe'.- cabinel a- Secretary of War. 
and in 1819, at the request of congress, submitted a plan 
for an extensive system of internal improvements. II i> 
labours in the reorganisation of the war department were 
of extreme value to the country. He was vice-president 
of the United States under the presidency of John Q. 
Adams (1825-29), and under that of General Jackson 
from 1829 to 1832, when he resigned the office. He 
prepared the first draft of the South Carolina Exposition 
of 1x29. a document of 56 printed pages, which distinctly 
marks the commencement of a new stage in Mr( Jalhoun's 
career. In this paper he announced the doctrine that a 
state can nullify unconstitutional laws, the principal 
h for the proposed exercise of this all< 



4 J01IS CALDWELL CALHOUN. 

right being the differing interests of different sections of 
the country, free trade being regarded as highly advan- 
tageous to tin- more southern states, and a protective tariff 
being conceded to be no less desirable for other parts of 
the country. The breath in his personal friendship for 

President Jackson (1830) c ipletely freed him from old 

party affiliations, and left him free for a new political 
career. His Address to the People of South <_'"r<j/iin! 
(1831) set forth with great force his newly developed 
theory of state rights. The passage by South Carolina 
in 18-">2 of the nullification ordinance was the occasion 
of his resignation of the vice-presidency, and of his 
entering the United Smtes senate. Mr Calhoun accepted 
the compromise tariff of 1833. The remainder of his 
political career was that of a leader of the states-rights 
movement, and a champion of the real or supposed in- 
terests of the slave-holding state-. More clearly than 
almost any other man in the country he understood the 
radical differences then existing between the social and 
industrial systems of the northern and southern Btab S, 
and foresaw the bloody consequences which might sooner 
or later result from those differences. He left the senate 
in 1813, and in the following year became Secretary of 
State under President Tyler, in which capacity he signed 
a treaty by which it was proposed that Texas should be 
annexed to the Union. In 1845 lie resumed hi- place 
in the senate. He strenuously opposed the war of 1846 
-47 with Mexico. He died at Washington of pulmon- 
ary disease, combined with a cardiac affection, 
1850. Mr Calhoun, though not a man of j 
ing, possessed high intellectual power,finelog 
enormous capacity for labour, keen politic; 



JOHN CALDWELL C ILHOVH .", 

and strong will ; and his personal integrity and mural 
purity were never called in question. The Lif( of Cal- 
houn, by K. S. -Jenkins (1851), contains mosl of tin- 
accessible details of his personal career. Sec also his col- 
lected works (ii vols. 1853-54), with a Life by Et. K. 
('.•alio, and II. von I [olst's John C. Calhoun (1882). The 
latter book discusses the leading evidences of < lalhoun's 
career as viewed from an anti-slavery standpoint. W ith 
Henry Clay and Daniel Webster he formed 'the meat 
triumvirate' in the sense of ado.-, • political union, for the 
three greal orators were never closely associated, and were 
often in antagonism. Mr Calhoun seriously regarded 
slavery as a blessing to all concerned with it; and the 
systematic defence of that institution was the main pur- 
pose of almost all his public acts during the latter half 
of his life. Mr Calhoun was tall and slender, with a 
thin, deeply lined and angular face. His bright and 
expressive eyes when he was speaking in public added 
much to the effect of his impassioned oratory. He was 
a brilliant talker, and had a large following of warm 
personal friends. 






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